Bridgestone Tires has responded to a Sony lawsuit claiming that a recent Bridgestone tire ad featuring actor Jerry Lambert infringed on its IP. Sony alleges that Lambert was playing fictional PlayStation executive Kevin Butler in its new ad which featured lab technicians playing Mario Kart on the Wii. According to a Bridgestone representative, the actor who plays Kevin Butler simply appeared in the commercial as one of the company's engineers.

"Mr. [Jerry] Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer," says the representative. "Bridgestone denies that 'Kevin Butler' appears in the Bridgestone commercial discussed herein and thus denies that he speaks or does anything whatsoever in the commercial."

The company goes on to say that the role was "not substantial" and that Lambert has been edited out of the commercial as it currently airs on TV.

Wildcat Creek, the company run by Lambert, is being sued by Sony who claims that the company is using its character created for Sony products to promote rival Nintendo. No doubt Lambert will counter that he is an actor and that his likeness and mannerisms belong to him because he is a human being and is not a slave owned by a corporation....